KUALA LUMPUR: Several players in the national men’s doubles squad can breathe a temporary sigh of relief as their new coach, Herry Iman Pierngadi, has no immediate plans to separate them.
Despite Malaysia having four men’s doubles pairs in the top 20 in the world, there is a significant gap between the country’s elite players and those still considered young, even though they have been in the national squad for quite some time.
While the senior players are expected to remain unaffected, the younger pairings, who have shown little improvement or achieved limited success, may be at risk of being split.
These include Goh Boon Zhe-Wong Vin Sean, Aaron Tai-Khang Khai Xing, as well as Fazriq Razif, the son of national legend Datuk Razif Sidek, who is currently partnering Bryan Jeremy Goonting.
All of them were eliminated early in the Thailand Masters held in Bangkok this week.
Choong Hon Jian has yet to compete in any tournaments as his partner, Haikal Nazri, is suffering from a hip injury.
For Herry, he is not rushing into any decisions, preferring to take the time to assess each player thoroughly.
However, he has not ruled out the possibility of reshuffling the current pairings if any of them fail to deliver positive results moving forward.
“If the performance is not up to standard (of the men’s doubles team), we will change it. However, for now, I haven’t thought about changing the pairs.
“It could be the same during training, but not the same in competitions. So, I’ll observe the performances in the tournaments first. I can’t say for sure how long it will take.
“So, I have to see first, then gradually, we will make small changes, but not total changes,” said Herry when he officially started his duties at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM), Bukit Kiara, yesterday.
Herry is the newly appointed coach by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), alongside Kenneth Jonassen, who manages the men’s singles squad. Together, they are entrusted with the mission of developing players capable of securing an Olympic gold medal at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Herry is no stranger to the international badminton scene, having played a key role in nurturing two Olympic champions, Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan, who clinched gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and Hendra Setiawan-Markis Kido, who triumphed at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Meanwhile, Jonassen has also made a significant contribution, helping Viktor Axelsen win the Olympic gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
